She saw Kaleb try to hold back a smile. She gritted her teeth. The scent of his arousal only added to the conflict inside her. She wanted him touching her, but she didn’t want to be tortured when they couldn’t do anything about it. He seemed utterly confident that she wouldn’t do anything that would embarrass either of them. The man had a lot to learn. She might be embarrassed but she wasn’t going to back down this time. She slid her hand down his thigh, hoping he’d get the message without having to push too far. When he smiled at her and boldly plucked her nipple, she knew she’d have to show him she was serious. He’d already turned his attention back to the food on his plate. Her fingers slid over his cock and then cupped over the ridge. He stiffened and his head slowly turned to her again. Her eyes locked with his and her brow arched.
Her fingers tightened and stroked his cock. His eyes closed and she felt his thigh muscles bunch. She suspected he was trying to regain control. The man pushed her to her limits. His hand fell away from her breast. She relaxed and went back to eating. Maybe he’d realized that he could only push her so far. She wanted to drag him out of his seat and push him to the ground. Soon, she wouldn’t care who saw them. He smiled. She knew he wouldn’t go too far, that he would have a limit to how far he would go. The only thing that bothered her was that he hadn’t found that point yet. He still looked ready to play. He trailed his fingers over her hip. She jumped.
“Kaleb.” She pitched her voice low so that it wouldn’t carry far. The last thing she wanted to do was draw more attention to them. He had to hear the warning in her tone.
The man just ignored her. She wanted to kick him. Lina grabbed his wrist. She had an idea of what he was going to do next and she knew she had to stop him. His palm slid over her thigh. She tugged at his hand, trying her best to keep the struggle subtle and out of sight. She knew that if he touched her pussy that any resistance might as well have never happened. She already wanted him. Much more of his teasing and she wouldn’t care who saw what.
His palm cupped her pussy. She exhaled shakily, doing her best to maintain control. His finger pressed between the lips of her pussy. She gave up all pretense of eating. Her fork clattered to the table and she stood. She grabbed for her last shred of sanity.
“Excuse me, I have to…” She didn’t finish as Kaleb stood.
She spun and headed for the tent. Hunger blazed in his eyes. She was just surprised that he hadn’t grabbed her already.
She just made it into the tent before his arms closed around her and lifted her off her feet. He laughed low and satisfied. She clutched at his arm as the tent flap dropped closed behind them. Kaleb flicked a small lamp on, giving them more light.
“We don’t need a light. Are you an exhibitionist?” She let him feel the edge of her nails.
“I want to watch you. No one’s going to see so much as a shadow through the thick fabric.” He nipped at her ear as he carried her over to the bed.
Right now she didn’t care about that. She only wanted to get him naked and inside her. She reached back and tugged on his shirt. “Let me down.”
He put her on her feet. She whirled to face him. Her hands moved to his shirt. The fastenings snagged. She frowned in concentration as she worked to get them free. He pushed the straps of her shirt down to her elbows. She reached for him, but the straps kept her arms near her side. She growled and wriggled, struggling out of the garment. It slipped down to her waist and she forgot about it. He tugged at her bra. She pushed his shirt wide and spread her hands over his chest. His muscles tensed. She laughed, enjoying the way he responded to her. She scraped her nails over his nipples. He growled and she heard a distinct rip. Her bra loosened, the straps sliding down her arms. It hooked at her elbows. Impatiently she freed one arm and went back to her explorations. Trailing her fingers down his stomach, she traced the edge of his pants. He cursed and tugged at hers. He managed to get her pants unfastened His hand slipped inside the fabric and cupped her panties. The heat of his palm seemed to sear through the sheer lingerie. She gasped and her legs tightened around his hand. She didn’t want to lose that contact even for a moment.
“I want these off you.” He nipped at her lips and tugged one side of her pants down.
“I want these off you.” She unfastened his pants and pushed them down his legs. “Looks like I’m going to get what I want first.”
She managed to get his pants down to his knees before the feeling of his fingers stroking her clit froze her. He didn’t play fair. She groaned. He stepped forward, but gravity had pulled his pants the rest of the way down his legs. They’d bunched at his ankles. He stumbled and fell onto the bed, taking her with him. She gasped and clung until they’d stopped bouncing. Looking up at him, she saw him shaking his head. She grinned at him. He frowned and kicked out of his pants.
“You know even as we were falling, your hand never left me.” She licked the darkened circle of his nipple.
“I know what I want.” He rolled her under him. His fingers stroked her clit before he tugged his hand out of her pants. He rose to his knees and pulled her pants and panties down. She kicked free of them as he tossed away her shoes. He looked up and bared his teeth. Her heart raced and she wanted nothing more than to make love with him, any way she could. She reached for him. He moved between her legs. His hands smoothed down her thighs. His cock nudged at her entrance. She tightened her legs around his hips. She wanted him now. Tugging his head down, she kissed him desperately. His tongue thrust into her mouth. She hoped he was as ready as she was. She didn’t think she’d make it through any more teasing. Her hand trailed down his back.
“Now,” she growled against his lips. Wild uncontrolled need boiled through her body seeming to grow with every breath.
His hips rocked forward and she cried out in joy as his shaft slowly pushed into her. Finally. He held himself motionless for a moment. Frustration screamed through her. She needed him to move. She could almost see him trying to regain control of himself. Nipping at his jaw, she arched up against him. That wasn’t happening. She didn’t want him thinking, guiding every move, every rise of passion. He growled and his hips pressed hers into the bedding. She dug her nails into his buttocks and tightened her inner muscles around his cock. His hips rose. She thrust her hips up, taking him again. His mouth slanted over hers hungrily. She felt the sharp edge of his teeth on her lips and thrilled at that sign of wildness.
His hips drove against hers. She met each stroke with equal force. The feel of his chest sliding against the hard tips of her breast sent waves of sharp sensation straight to her core. Tension coiled inside her. She trembled as she tried desperately to grab the release, but it remained just out of reach. Her nails dug into his buttocks, pulling him closer. His hips ground against hers in a slow circle. Shivers rippled up her spine and pleasure exploded, sending spikes of bliss to her fingers and toes. He continued to rock into her. His body tensed and he groaned. She felt his entire body shake as he came. He relaxed, his breathing gradually slowing. His arms swept around her, holding her tightly to him. She held him, savoring the closeness.
* * * * *
Lina eyed the forest surrounding the camp and a tingle ran through her body. The need to shift to tiron form and race through the trees burned inside her, pulsing and growing stronger with each breath. She bit her lip and turned resolutely away from the temptation, heading toward the confines of the tent. Sliding her palms down the tight black fabric of her pants, she took a deep breath.
The feelings only lessened a little, but at least she couldn’t see the forest. Seeing the trees only made it that much harder to resist the desire to run, to feel the wind as she raced through the trees and get lost in the freedom of being a tiron. She looked around the tent, searching for something to take her mind off leaving camp. She wanted to respect Shard and Kaleb’s order, but it was getting harder to do.
She spotted her bag at the bottom of the bed, half open. Groaning, she remembered that she’d had to search this morning for a bra to wear
. She picked up the bag and dumped the contents on the bed, keeping the lingerie and putting everything else back inside it.
She frowned as she held up the remains of what had once been her favorite bra. Both delicate-looking straps had been torn completely free of the cups. She narrowed her eyes as she noticed that something more than ripped straps was wrong. The stitching had been ripped along the base of bra and was slowly unraveling. She sighed and dropped the brilliant green silk onto the bed in the discard pile. Yet another piece of lingerie destroyed.
She’d heard their opinion of her lingerie again and again. Shard and Kaleb for the most part considered her underwear unnecessary, a pretty wrapping. At times they lingered and tormented her as they removed each bit of clothing with deliberate care. At those times, their large strong hands unfastened each clasp with torturous slowness before slipping the fabric from her body.
But when they were wild…
“What are you doing in here?” Kaleb stood a few paces away from her, his head tilted to the side as he looked from the pile of clothes on the bed to her.
She thought better of using the opening to restate her desire to go for a run. They’d already had this argument and she knew it was fruitless. Neither of them would change their mind. Watching him through her lashes as he stalked across the room, she admired the way the green camouflage shirt clung to his arms and chest. Letting her gaze stray lower, she licked her lips. Those camo pants were skintight.
“Looking at my underwear.” Lina tossed a frown at him as she noticed yet another torn piece of clothing.
“You have a compulsion about your lingerie,” he chuckled, sitting down on the bed beside the pile of clothes.
“And you have no obsessions?” She raised an eyebrow. “Remember…I was watching you when you first stepped onto my ship.”
Kaleb’s grin widened into a full smile. “I’ll admit that I do enjoy flying. I do have other, more powerful compulsions.”
Lina shook her head. As if she could miss those compulsions. He was fiercely protective of all those people under his protection. And then there was his possessiveness toward her. She looked over at him and took in the warmth glowing in his brown eyes.
“Why don’t you just tell me about one of them?” She raised her brows in challenge as she sat down on the other side of the pile of clothes.
“Pick anything you want to know and I’ll tell you about it. Nothing in my life is taboo to you.” He brushed his fingers across her cheek.
She peeked up at him through her lashes as she bit her lip. It was all too tempting to ask him about his sexual relationship with Shard. She could see the depth of their bond in the smallest of actions and had seen the way they looked at each other. Sometimes there was enough heat in their eyes to light a fire. The two men were lovers and obviously loved each other. She didn’t know if they admitted that even to themselves.
“Anything?” She didn’t want to make him feel uncomfortable.
“Ask anything. I’ll hold no secrets from you.” He picked up her hand and tangled his fingers with hers.
“Tell me about…your relationship with Shard. I only know of the rumors concerning Ardin and the Tierna.” Her fingers tightened around his as she lifted her head to meet his eyes.
One corner of his mouth kicked up into a grin. “There’s a lot to tell. Where do you want me to start?”
“When did you meet him? How did you meet him?” She marveled at how easily he was speaking of it. She was a stranger to them. Didn’t he have any doubts about where she would fit in their relationship? She didn’t want to come between them any more than she wanted to be left out of the relationship.
“We met when I was ten and Shard was eleven. It’s custom for the chatar of the thent to find pairs meant to be bound by Tierna. The chatar in my thent found me first. When Shard was found by the chatar in his thent, he was taken to one of the meetings used to bring the pairs together. We met there.” Kaleb’s eyes were unfocused and she could tell he was remembering those meetings.
“Did you know he was the one meant to be Ardin with you when you saw him?” She turned a little, her body angled toward his.
“No, I didn’t know he was the one meant to be bound by Tierna to me. I wanted my best friend from my home thent to be my bond partner. I was determined to get my way.” He shook his head.
She could almost see a younger version of him stubbornly insisting that he knew better than everybody else who should be Ardin. “Did you at least give Shard a chance?”
“After a while I did. I didn’t like him at first. I didn’t understand just how the other half of the Tierna bond would be chosen.” He turned toward her, pushing the clothes out of the way.
“Why didn’t you like Shard when you first met him? He was a child. You both were. He couldn’t have had too many bad habits then. Was it just because you weren’t getting your way?” She smiled and pictured smaller versions of the two of them squared off scowling at each other.
“Well, that didn’t put me in a receptive frame of mind. We were just different. He thought I was a pampered cub and not strong enough to fight at his side. I thought he was all emotions and no thought. We eventually came to an understanding.” Kaleb shrugged his shoulders.
“Were either of you the son of an Ardin?” She tilted her head. That was something that she’d always wanted to know. In most cultures, title and rank passed from father to son. Was it the same with Ardin?
“My fathers were Ardin.” His eyes never left hers. “The tendency to form the Tierna bond is sometimes strong in a family line. But nature and character play a large part in it.”
Lina frowned as his words seemed to echo in her head. His wording just seemed strange especially when she’d asked specifically about Ardin. “The tendency to form the Tierna bond…” It would have seemed easier to say that the position of Ardin sometimes passed from father to son. Through the whole conversation when she’d asked about Ardin he’d talked of the Tierna bond.
“Is it possible to form the bond and not be Ardin?” She narrowed her eyes and waited for his answer. She’d never heard of anyone but Ardin bound by Tierna.
Kaleb ruffled her hair. “There are fifteen other pairs bound by Tierna in this thent. All bound pairs seem to have alpha tendencies, but only the strongest become Ardin. The chatars ensure that only those meant to be Ardin take the position.”
“How do you learn everything that you need to know? Is there a place where pairs are trained?” She plucked at a lacy bra caught under her thigh.
“Once a pair is matched, they’re sent to train with established Ardin. All new pairs train at two thents, usually more than two.” He took the bra and tossed it over his shoulder.
“How did you become the Ardin of this thent?” She knew that this was a relatively new thent. Established thents usually held claim to a world or a section of a world.
“We had a choice. We could go to my home world and stay there until my fathers were ready to step aside or we could take the rule of this new thent and make our own home.” His breath feathered over her neck as he nuzzled aside her braid.
“I’m pretty sure I know part of the reason, but I’m going to ask anyway. Why didn’t you stay and rule the thent you grew up in?” Lina tilted her neck to the side. A small shiver skittered up her spine as his tongue traced up the column of her neck.
“My fathers are still in their prime. It would be many years before that group needs new Ardin. Why did you think we didn’t take it?” His mouth roamed up to her ear.
“Not enough challenge for you. Too easy.” She gasped as his teeth nipped at her earlobe.
“You may have a point there.” Hot, moist breath rushed over the shell of her ear.
Lina drew in a shuddering breath and decided she’d better try to focus while she could. Desire was fast becoming more of a priority than her questions. “So being linked by Tierna isn’t that common. There’s only thirty people bound by it out of…two thousand people in this thent.”
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br /> “It’s very rare, but a high honor.” He nibbled on her neck. He grabbed a handful of the nearby silky scraps. “What are you going to do with this?”
“Get rid of what you and Shard have ruined. And try to keep the rest from being ripped.” She pulled away enough to glare at him. That stuff wasn’t exactly cheap.
He tugged her back against him. His lips brushed over hers briefly. “Just don’t wear them. I’d love to be able to slip my hand beneath your shirt and feel only the full warm weight of your breasts.” His hand fitted to the ripe curve he was discussing.
“I need a bra. Anyone with large breasts needs a bra.” Lina rolled her eyes, but leaned closer, opening her mouth beneath his.
After a short teasing kiss, his mouth slid away and roamed over her cheeks. “Your breasts are perfect without a bra. I love seeing them sway and bounce as you walk.”
A smile curved her lips. She couldn’t doubt that he felt that way. She’d catch his and Shard’s eyes on her breasts at odd moments during the day. That attention made her feel like the sexiest woman alive.
He sifted through her pile of discards. “All of these can’t be ruined.”
She looked from him, to the destroyed lingerie and the support pole at the end of the bed. Oh, she had a use for them.
She grasped a handful of the silky fabric and edged away from him. She scooted back on the bed, closer to where she needed to be. She tried to keep the smile off her lips as he turned and gave her a predatory grin before crawling up the bed after her.
She edged a little farther to the side, running her eyes down his body. He was wearing way too many clothes. She’d have to do something about that. For that matter, she was overdressed, but she wasn’t the one who was going to be tied to the tent support. The trick would be actually getting the silk on his wrists.
He knelt beside her, his hands framing her face. His lips brushed over hers in a soft questing kiss. Opening her mouth eagerly, she leaned into him. She curled her arms around his shoulders. Even as she kissed him, she fashioned loops out of the twisted silken fabric in her hands.
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